All those Zionist ‘wise-guys’ of both genders, who think they have been so clever using their high office to serve Israel, are fooling themselves. More and more citizens are becoming aware that Israel’s espionage, its dictates to the US Congress and its manipulation of Executive powers are harming America. At the present, highly placed Zionist officials hold sway over the Obama Cabinet, but in the future they may find themselves facing charges of being agents of a foreign power, and a threat to US national security. They may find themselves sharing a cell block with Jonathan Pollard!

Baldwin Beach goers found an unhappy surprise this morning, Thursday, March 26.

“Our usually pristine shoreline was littered with what looked like Japanese tsunami garbage,” said Lauren Hogan, Realtor at Better Homes and Gardens Realty, after her early morning walk.

Among the debris was a Japanese market shopping basket, a plastic car bumper, many bits and pieces of colored plastic, and piles of knotted and twisted colored rope.

“Good Samaritans cleaned the beach for hours before I got there,” Hogan said. “They put the garbage into plastic bags and hauled larger items away in an effort to make their beach clean once again. Much thanks to all of them!”

This idea that we can run an Empire with military threats, missiles, and economic sanctions is a fallacy.

The Civil War in Yemen is rapidly expanding. We have been forced to close our embassy and military base located there. It is now clear that Obama’s optimism for fighting terrorism in Yemen was misplaced. It hardly sets a standard for dealing with constant conflict and chaos throughout the Middle East.

So far the various factions that we have supported over the years have been poor choices, as usual.

Hopefully someday our government officials will wake up. The counterinsurgency doctrine that was supposed to be the answer to all our military shortcomings is a total failure.

Smith, who heads the Institute for Research: Middle East Policy, reportedly said he thinks this is the first time the US government has officially confirmed that Israel is a nuclear power, a status that Israel has long been widely known to have despite being undeclared.

In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon early last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel’s nuclear program, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent.

Reality crashed down on those who had hoped the March 17 Knesset elections might lead to a more moderate future Israeli leadership.

The election returns brought the news, Benjamin Netanyahu had won again.

He won in large part by revoking his earlier pledge to support a Palestinian state, and by using last-hour racist warnings to bring out hard right voters.

“Something like scales” must be made to fall from the eyes of the American public which has been endorsing, funding and supporting a brutal military occupation for almost five decades. How will that be accomplished?

God works in mysterious ways, and sometimes She causes scales to fall and opens the eyes of those who do not yet see.

Conference organizers are the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy.

This unprecedented gathering will focus on the Israel lobby in America. How big is it? How fast has it grown? How interconnected are the organizations and individuals? How much revenue does it raise and where does the money go? What are the common objectives of the lobby? What laws apply to lobbying to benefit a foreign government and are they vigorously enforced? Do coordinated campaign contributions cause American policymakers to act more on behalf of Israel than the United States? What fallacies underlie the assertions that U.S. and Israeli interests are the same? What are the Israel lobby’s public and private, short-and-medium-term policy objectives? And what can Americans who do not believe pro-Israel slogans, activities and policy objectives do?

Netanyahu has established the fact that Israel and its people embrace a racist ideology and receive the endorsement of most Western leaders, and mass media and the unconditional support of its overseas fifth column.

There is no question that the majority of Israeli Jewish leaders and parties support Netanyahu’s racist pronouncements and ‘no-state’ solution and joined him in a coalition government. But the larger issue is the positive mass response to Netanyahu’s call to action. Nearly three quarters of the electorate turned out (73%) to elect him. Moreover, Netanyahu has been elected prime minister for four terms: between 1996-99 and more recently 2009-20.

What is more, the opposition has not differed from the Netanyahu coalition regime’s Judeo-centric policies and pronouncements. In other words, ‘racist’ ideology per se is not what drives the Israeli majority to repeatedly support Netanyahu.

He won in large part by revoking his earlier pledge to support a Palestinian state, and by using last-hour racist warnings to bring out hard right voters.

Because Netanyahu’s Likud party won the largest number of seats (30) in the new Israeli parliament (120 total), he will play the major role in organizing the next government.

Even liberal Zionist Thomas Friedman had to acknowledge that Netanyahu won with “dirty” politics and the use of “dog-whistle” language. Friedman wrote in his New York Times column that “You cannot win that dirty and just walk away like nothing has happened”.

God works in mysterious ways, and sometimes causes scales to fall and opens the eyes of those who do not yet see.

Judge Kurren, for whatever reasons, is no longer on the case. The sitting judge now is Susan Oki Mollway.

It’s all good now, right?

Wrong.

Hours before a scheduled March 10 hearing, which hopefully would have made progress toward a resolution of the voters of Maui’s position (ban GMOs) vs. Monsanto and Dow’s position (let us keep poisoning the people of Maui with our experimental pesticides and experimental GMOs)…boom. Judge Mollway postponed the hearing.

No progress. No resolution. More stalling, even after the voters of Maui had made their voices heard, last Election Day, with a ballot decision to put a temporary halt to all Monsanto/Dow GMO/pesticide toxic experiments on Maui.

Justice deferred once again.

So why did Judge Mollway shock everybody and cancel the March 10 hearing?

Western power trying its best to destabilize foreign countries on the cheap...

With only weeks to go to the British national election and the re-election of a Conservative-led government in doubt after five years of brutal economic austerity, Cameron made the bizarre announcement last week that Britain is going to fund «free market reforms» and «good governance» in eastern European countries. The move invited comparisons with Cold War era British premier Margaret Thatche++r who at the end of the 1980s launched a similar programme to assist former Soviet Bloc countries adopt «free market reforms».

The April 10 conference “The Israel Lobby: Is It Good for the US? Is It Good for Israel?” at the National Press Club will present the following panels:

1.0 What Is the Israel Lobby and How Does It Work? 9:00 AM
2.0 Are Critical Voices Silenced? 10:10 AM
3.0 Is Freedom of Speech Encouraged on American Campuses? 11:35 AM
4.0 Is the Lobby Good for Israel? 1:15 PM
5.0 How Does the Lobby Influence Congress? 2:25 PM
6.0 Is There an Iraq-Iran Continuum? 3:50 PM

Find out why neither Egypt was the land of the Israelites’ Exodus nor Palestine their promised land.

“The Zionist paradigm is founded on the distorted story of the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt and their persecution by the Assyrians and Captivity by Babylonians. But the truth is that the Israelites never set foot in Egypt or Palestine. Actually they never left Ancient Arabia and North Yemen, their origin land, before the Babylonian Captivity”

Save the date: March 28!
Help promote Healthy Soils, Healthy Communities, Healthy Ahupua’a by attending a one-day, hands-on event sponsored by Down To Earth and the Hawaii Organic Farming Association.
For more info, visit Down to Earth Hawaii's Eventbrite pagewww.d2e.co/HOFAfarmday

Supernatural Agriculture is a web site devoted to the inherent spirituality of growing food & medicine in a way that respects the environment of this unique planet we all share. Up until the beginning of 20th century, the ability to survive and thrive on this planet depended on having an intimate relationship with the forces of nature; our global economy was literally fueled by the sun and the process of photosynthesis. We grew most of our food, fiber, fuel and pharmaceuticals. With the exploitation of coal and oil, our lifestyle changed from a carbohydrate based reality to one fueled by hydrocarbons. Survival and security was now in the hands of the oil and banking interests. Instead of the small family farmer, the banks, corporations, and laboratories now grew the food and food-like substances we now get at the local supermarket.

Has this change from carbohydrates to hydrocarbons made for a happier and healthier global culture? Has it brought stability and wealth to our lives?

HOFA members are people like you who care about the food they eat and its impact on the environment. Our membership is made up of local organic farmers, distributors, retailers, students, and consumers wishing to support and promote organic agriculture in Hawaii.

You do not need to be certified organic to be a member. Members receive notices of events, workshops, conferences and seminars.

When empires weaken, they don’t merely withdraw. Rather, they leave behind a trail of broken promises and confusion.

When columnist Thomas L. Friedman suggests the U.S. should arm ISIS – thus joining the Saudi-Israeli regional war on Iran and the Shiites – it seems time to question the sanity of U.S. opinion- and policy-makers. But that is where the muddled U.S. post-9/11 strategy has led, explains Daniel Lazare.

On 17 December 2014, President Obama declared that 55 years of embargo didn’t work in bringing ‘freedom’ to Cuba. He proposed reestablishing diplomatic relations with the southern neighbor. An emotion of joy shook the world, especially Latin America. Raul Castro received wires and calls of congratulations. Cubans cheered “we won, we won!” – The US Congress right wing was not quite ready for this initiative and, indeed, there was no concrete mention of how and when the ‘blockade’ would be lifted.

Two days after Obama’s bold initiative, on 19 December 2015, he went to the Washington Press Club to tell a horde of puppet journalists, conservative politicians and onlookers that soft measures, like reestablishing diplomatic relations with Havana might be more successful in bringing the desired regime change to Cuba than more years of isolation. He couldn’t have been more direct and more honest about his intention. The Cuban Government and whoever else listened didn’t miss the point.

The death of Danny Schechter, “the News Dissector,” at age 72 from cancer marks a sad moment for independent journalism. Schechter’s was a strong voice against the empty platitudes and blatant hypocrisies that have come to define modern American media and politics, as he explained in an article last year.

The word “Oligarchy” has finally come home. For years, it was a term only used in connection with those big bad and sleazy Mafioso-type businessmen in Russia. Russia had Oligarchs; we didn’t. That became a big difference between the official narrative of what separated our “land of the free and the home of the brave” from “them” in the post-Soviet period.

The dangerous threat to the Second Amendment that he's been warning you about has made its way to Hawaii!

In 2012 you may remember that 7 members of the Hawaii Legislature went on record--demanding a Constitutional Convention to repeal the Second Amendment.

This year at least four separate pieces of legislation in Honolulu aim to open up the U.S. Constitution -- and ALL of your cherished rights and freedoms it contains -- for the political class to whack away at.

Unfortunately, the prognosis is that if Merkel cannot see the glaring truth of the situation by now... then there is not much hope of the chancellor ever coming to a realistic political position on Ukraine...And, grimly, that means the outlook for further conflict is not good.

Kiev President Petro Poroshenko unveiled a new dimension of international sanctions against Russia this week, while being royally entertained by German leaders in Berlin. The oligarch-turned-politician now wants the Western allies of the Kiev regime to boycott the 2018 World Cup Finals to be held in Russia.

Why have Western countries only now decided to vote to recognize the state of Palestine? What will be the outcome? Will a legitimate Palestinian state bring peace to the region? Is an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan a dead end?

CrossTalking with Amir Oren and Norman Finkelstein (author of the new book ‘Method and Madness: The Hidden Story of Israel’s Assaults on Gaza’).

Netanyahu's outright rejection of a Palestinian state and his promise to go on building more and more illegal settlements leave Obama without any wriggle room.

“Love him (Netanyahu) or hate him, this is the face of Israel.” That’s how Uriel Heilman concluded an article for the JTA (Jewish Telegraph Agency) on Netanyahu’s election victory after noting that he had shown his true colours by declaring that there would be no Palestinian state while he is in charge. What President Obama now has to decide is whether or not he will allow Netanyahu to remain in charge of American policy for Israel-Palestine.

With the facades gone, Americans must decide if they will embrace this apartheid system or not...

Desperate to win reelection, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stripped off Israel’s mask and exposed the ugliness that has deformed his country over the past several decades.He abandoned the subterfuge of a two-state solution, exposed the crass racism that underlies Israeli politics, and revealed Israel’s blatant control of the U.S. Congress.

For years, U.S. politicians have rejected allegations of Israeli racism and excused mistreatment of the Palestinians as a temporary necessity that would be fixed by a two-state solution. But Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has destroyed those arguments in his panic to keep his job, reports Robert Parry.

About two years ago, Claire and I were walking up to get our mail and we saw the Google Street view car whiz by. I didn't think much about it at the time, but an alert reader pointed out that we have been "immortalized" by Google! :)

Newly-elected Senator Cotton and neocon leader Bill Kristol are now doing the work of AIPAC, and their pro-Israel, anti-Iran funders are standing with a foreign leader on a foreign policy issue against their own president.

It could be Netanyahu again, even if he runs second in the final results. If the Herzog-Livni coalition is successful, they have already announced that they will rotate the office of Prime Minister.

Whatever the final outcome, AIPAC will be standing by, awaiting its marching orders.

A series of snowstorms left an impressive view of snow-covered volcanic peaks on the Big Island of Hawaii.

A new image (above) from NASA’s Earth Observatory shows snow covering Mauna Kea on March 10, 2015. While snow isn't unheard of on Mauna Kea, NASA points out that it is uncommon.

Earlier this week, the National Weather Service had placed both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa under a blizzard warning. Meteorologists said as much as 8 inches of snow could fall at 11,000 feet elevation. Strong winds with gusts of 85 mph were also possible, according to weather.com meteorologists.

The blizzard warning continues for the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, as snow is piling up high.

The National Weather Service says the warning is in effect for Hawaii Island’s higher elevations – anything above 11,000 feet – until 6 p.m. Thursday. Forecasters expect an additional 2 to 4 inches of snow to fall. Temperatures are in the mid-20s, but its the wind that is extreme, gusting up to 85 miles per hour.

Those who work on the summit – including snow removal crews – had to abandon their posts. This message was issued by the Maunakea Rangers early Thursday morning.

Since Wednesday, a blizzard warning has been in effect for the Big Island’s tallest peaks, and continues through 6 p.m. this evening, local Hawaiian time.

The warning calls for an additional 2-4 inches of snow on top of what has fallen, sustained winds of 45-65 mph with gusts over 85 mph, and temperatures in the mid-20s. Visibilities are expected to be one-quarter mile or less due to snow and blowing snow.

“Travel to the summits, either on foot or by vehicle, will be dangerous,” the National Weather Service cautions.

The self-described “Don’t Do Stupid Stuff” Obama administration, with its rambling foreign policy, is driving the real Masters of the Universe who control the current world system absolutely crazy.

A cliffhanger debate will take place this Wednesday at the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Picture Secretary of State John Kerry, new Pentagon supremo Ashton Carter, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey all testifying in the same room.

The meat of the matter: the House of Cards, sorry, US Congress mulling over what’s the real deal behind the Obama administration’s proposal to use “military force” in Syria, and whether to impose a no-fly zone to protect Syrian “rebels”.

NATO’s Operation Atlantic Resolve paced ahead this week with the latest arrival of more US military forces in the Baltic region.

Under the guise of defending eastern Europe from «Russian aggression», more than 100 Abrams tanks and Bradley armoured personnel carriers rolled into Latvia. Last month, a similar motorised display of military support was deployed in Estonia – in the town of Narva – with American flags flown by the US Army’s Second Calvary Regiment just 300 metres from the Russian border.

To summarize: in the last election, the voters of Maui, in a ballot measure, decided to place a temporary ban on further Dow/Monsanto GMO/pesticide experiments in Maui County.

Immediately, Monsanto, Dow, and yes, even the County government of Maui (betraying their own voters), lined up against the results of the vote.

Monsanto and Dow, joined by the Maui County government, sued to nullify the results of the vote, claiming the regulation of GMOs comes under the control of the state of Hawaii and the federal government, and can’t be decided at the county level.

That’s where we are now. The voters’ demands are suspended in limbo. Their legal call for an independent commission to investigate the practices of Monsanto and Dow in Maui County, and decide whether they threaten the people and the land—that urgent call has been silenced for the time being.

It is writing such as this, which illustrates and illuminates the extent of Zionist infiltration in the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave," which will drive home to the "American" public what has happened to their "dream, which may eventually stir them to action of some sort to bring it to an end... if anything will!

It is certainly past time to push back against an organization that is brazenly promoting the interests of a foreign government at the expense of the American people.

Shutting Down AIPAC

I would like to concentrate on two issues. First is the nature of the special relationship between Israel and the United States and second is the role of the Israel Lobby and most particularly AIPAC in shaping that relationship.

Iran's FM: I read the American constitution, I believe the– executive has the prerogative over foreign policy and for any foreign government, it has to lead with the executive. That’s the only way you can have international affairs. So I will accept the commitment of the U.S. government, the U.S. administration, about what– going to do. And I will– I mean if they have an agreement, I will hold them accountable.

So, did Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland mislead Congress or just play a propaganda game, asks Robert Parry.

An early skill learned by Official Washington’s neoconservatives, when they were cutting their teeth inside the U.S. government in the 1980s, was how to frame their arguments in the most propagandistic way, so anyone who dared to disagree with any aspect of the presentation seemed unpatriotic or crazy.

During my years at The Associated Press and Newsweek, I dealt with a number of now prominent neocons who were just starting out and mastering these techniques at the knee of top CIA psychological warfare specialist Walter Raymond Jr., who had been transferred to President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council staff where Raymond oversaw inter-agency task forces that pushed Reagan’s hard-line agenda in Central America and elsewhere.

The ideological arsenal of pretexts for US military interventions are depleted, redundant, spent or thoroughly disgraced.

Is the defence of world heritage sites in Iraq the new «responsibility to protect» (R2P) doctrine to justify Western intervention in the geo-strategically important region? The timing coincides with renewed admonitions from the United States and Saudi Arabia for a coalition of ground forces to defeat the Islamic State network in Iraq and Syria – and just when Iraqi and Syrian forces appear to be decisively pushing back the extremists in both countries.

The US and its Western allies have long used the doctrine of «responsibility to protect» or «R2P» as a flimsy pretext for military intervention.They found success with various tropes, including the «War on Terror», the elimination of «weapons of mass destruction», and the Responsibility to Protect» human rights.

There is much idle chatter from liberals, leftists and progressives, claiming that Netanyahu’s ‘brazen intervention’would backfire;

There have been times when history has played tricks with man and…has magnified the features of essentially small persons into a parody of greatness--Rabindranath Tagore(on Benito Mussolini)

How is it that the ruler (Benjamin Netanyahu) of a puny country (Israel) of 8.2 million (6.2 million Jews) with the 37th biggest economy (GDP in current prices) in the world dictates war policy and secures the willing submission of the legislature of the largest economy and most powerful military empire in the world?

What significance does Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress have, beyond the fact that he uses it as a platform to attack the elected President of the US, to denounce US peace negotiations and to demand that Congress adopt policies designed to precipitate a war with Iran?

Berlin and the rest of Europe need to move fast to underpin diplomacy with Russia and to head off Washington’s death-wish plunge into the abyss.

Washington’s reckless attempts to scuttle the shaky ceasefire in Ukraine are unnerving Germany. The German government feels, with good reason, that the Americans are trying to undermine its recent efforts to mediate a political solution to the nearly year-old conflict, which has caused at least 6,000 deaths and up to one million refugees. Not only that but the violence between the ultranationalist regime in Kiev and the pro-Russian separatists in the east is threatening to spillover into a wider war that could involve Russia and the rest of Europe.

The Russians are worried that pro-Western neoliberal party will regain the positions they lost after 2000, and dead Nemtsov will indeed be more useful for his cause than alive one.

Anyway, while the mourning and the funeral did not cause any breach of peace, the march did not turn into a Maidan or Tahrir, and Bernard Henri Levi did not land on the Red Square, the Putin’s government got cold feet. For a long eight days Russian police looked for the murderers, and meanwhile the Yeltsin’s cadres, people of nineties assaulted Putin from within and the Western media and officials from without. President Putin is not a Genghis Khan, he is a non-confrontational bloke whose great ambition is to live in peace and harmony with the West while defending Russia’s vital interests, and observing interests of Russia’s wealthies and worthies. He also wants to be accepted as an equal among the world’s great, East and West.

It has been just over a year of growing and escalating crisis in Europe since the Maidan Square protests in Kiev succeeded in toppling Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.

It saw the likes of US Senator John McCain – a man whose quest for a new Vietnam War never ends – travelling to the country to personally urge on the demonstrators in Kiev alongside Britain’s Catherine Ashton, representing the EU.

Iran has no intention of destroying Israel and has actually saved the Jews three times in history, but the current Israeli regime is a threat to Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said.

“Israel threatens to use force against Iran almost on a daily basis… Of course, if they did use force against Iran, we would defend ourselves, as we have done with great sacrifice in the past. But we are not invading, we are not threatening anybody. We have not threatened anybody for 250 years,” the Iranian FM said.

“We never had the bomb. We will never have a bomb. We’re not looking to have a bomb. We do not believe a bomb is in our interest. Whereas [Netanyahu] does have a bomb. He has 200 nuclear weapons,” he said.

The gross interference by Washington in Britain’s forthcoming election on the vital issue of budgetary priorities clearly demonstrates that British «democracy» is but an appendage to an American leash. And the leash is being yanked to pull the snarling bulldog into line.

In a brazen show of bringing-to-heel in their «special relationship», American political and Pentagon chiefs are openly rebuking the British government to maintain its huge military spend on the NATO alliance – to the possible detriment of already withering public services in austerity-clobbered Britain. The imposition by Washington raises serious questions about the nature of democracy in Britain – the self-proclaimed «Mother of all Parliaments».

The walls are thick and strong beyond imagining, but the elders who sleep in the bowels of Zion know that this rumbling at their foundation marks well their inevitable fall.

The first great stone has hit the ramparts of Zion. The elders within the walls, down in the bowels of the fortress, have sat bolt upright, as they have felt the unmistakable rumbling vibration. Their eyes, which are usually narrow with the self-regard of the power of their own devious cunning, have suddenly gone wide with fear, as instantly they know that the inevitable has arrived upon them.

As another great stone finds the wall, and shakes the very air, these elders fly from their beds with great alarm.
The walls are thick and strong beyond imagining, but the elders who sleep in the bowels of Zion know that this rumbling at their foundation marks well their inevitable fall.

The National Weather Service in Honolulu has issued a winter storm warning for Big Island summits above 12,000 feet until 6 a.m. Thursday (March 5).

Heavy snow accumulation up to 15-25 inches for Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. Winds are currently 15-25 mph from the southwest. Temperatures are in the upper 20s with visibility under a half mile in the clouds.

Mauna Kea summit access road is closed above the Visitor Information Station due to ice and snow on the roadways.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Snowboarding on Mauna Kea. The building seen at right houses the Subaru IR telescope operated by Japan at the Mauna Kea Observatory.

A winter storm warning is in effect for the Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa summits through 6 a.m. Thursday.

National Weather Service forecasters in Honolulu say up to 10 to 15 inches of snow could fall above the 12,000-foot elevation of both Big Island mountains. The service also expects southwest winds around 15 to 25 mph. Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 20s.hL3Zea.dpuf

In pursuing the strategy of preserving the perception of the Iranian threat in order to maintain the special relationship with the United States, Netanyahu is pursuing strategies that sabotage America’s own foreign policy interests...

By going over President Obama’s head to Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is taking a big gamble, apparently hoping that he can block any U.S. rapprochement with Iran and heighten tensions in the Middle East, a strategy that lacks both facts and logic, says Ted Snider.

Mercury concentrations in tuna are increasing by nearly four percent a year, according to a new University of Michigan-led study, which suggests rising atmospheric levels of toxin are to blame.

Researchers came to this conclusion using the findings from three previously published reports, which studied yellowfin tuna caught near Hawaii in 1971, 1998 and 2008. In the studies, scientists tested the tuna’s muscle tissues, finding that nearly all of the mercury they detected was the toxic methylmercury.

State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin today instructed the Duma's international affairs committee to study the possibility of making a statement condemning "the annexation of the German Democratic Republic Federal Republic of Germany in 1989". The initiative to prepare a statement about the annexation of the GDR Communist Nikolai Ivanov made in response to the allegations in the European deputies Russian annexation of the Crimea.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Russia is apparently getting tired of the accusations that it annexed Crimea, even though Crimea voted to merge with Russia. Russia is correct to point out that the nations doing the accusing are themselves guilty of plotting annexations, specifically the 1989 plan by West Germany to annex East Germany, and of course, the US annexation of Texas and Hawaii, with the US Government formally admitting the latter was illegal.

Native Hawaiians could be in line for federal recognition similar to many American Indian tribes. But the issue is inflaming distrust between moderates who support the idea and others who want to see the Hawaiian Kingdom restored.

Webmaster's Commentary:

The first thing you need to understand is that Hawaii is not legally a part of the United States. On November 23, 1993, President Clinton signed United States Public Law 103-150, which not only acknowledged the illegal actions committed by the United States in the overthrow of the legitimate government of Hawaii, but also that the Hawaiian people never surrendered their sovereignty. Hence all subsequent actions to bring Hawaii into the control of the United States are legally without foundation.

The offer by Washington DC to placate the Hawaiians by treating them like the North American natives is a raw deal when you look at how DC actually does treat the North American natives. The Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, made famous by the Leonard Peltier case, has some of the worst living conditions in the Western hemisphere. Life expectancy is just 48. The only place with a lower life expectancy is Haiti! So the message from Washington DC is, "Sorry we stole your nation; we'll make up for it by shoving you onto a reservation on land nobody wants and ignoring you!"

Hawaii is not legally a state. It's occupied territory. The United States Government are masters in someone else's home, and it is time they stop pretending this is somehow right or just!

While the Obamas and friends who accompany them pay for their own private vacation home rentals on or near Kailua Beach, taxpayers foot a multimillion dollar tab for everything from a stand-by ambulance to the fuel for Air Force One.

Local taxpayers pick up the bill for Honolulu Police Department escorts who guard Obama, first lady Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha around the clock. Figures just released by HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu show HPD spent $277,000 on overtime costs this year during the president’s 16-day vacation. That’s $16,000 less than in 2013, but $60,000 more than in 2012.

Blankets, layers of heavy clothes and thermal socks are some of the ways Hawaii residents are trying to stay warm in a cold snap that has brought record lows. As temperatures hit the 50s, some stores sold out of space heaters.

The usually balmy and pleasant weather of Hawaii is seeing records broken, not for how warm it is, but for cold temperatures. Hawaii has posted record low temperatures for the second day in a row, breaking at least four different area records.

Temperatures in Hawaii dropped into the 50s, setting records on three islands and tying a record in Honolulu Sunday morning.

The low of 54 degrees in Lihue and Kahului broke records for Kauai and Maui. The previous record of 59 degrees in Lihue was set in 2005. The low in Kahului broke a record of 55 set for this date in 1971.

In Hilo, the low temperature of 59 degrees broke the previous record of 60 set in 1999 on Sunday's date.

Nearing the end of the their 17-day vacation in Hawaii, President Obama and the First Lady had their New Year’s Day dinner at one of the most expensive restaurants in Hawaii – where memberships can run upwards of $500,000.

The Obamas enjoyed a nearly three-hour-long, 15-course meal that is priced at nearly $300 a head. According to Honolulu Magazine, that doesn’t include the dessert, wine, or tip, and a dinner for two can run $1000 or more.

Vintage Cave’s website describes the restaurant as nothing short of a restaurant for the elite of America.

Webmaster's Commentary:

I wonder if they kicked out the other diners while the Obamas were there.

Holly Cantere of Moanalua, a Honolulu suburb, saw the 4.8 pound crustacean doing a crab walk down Salt Lake Boulevard on December 21st. With the help of a friend, she managed to catch it and turn it over to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture which has it quarantined until it can determine where this coconut crab came from and if it brought any friends.

President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, spent the first night of the new year at Vintage Cave, an upscale restaurant in Hawaii.

"At Vintage Cave Honolulu, one can enjoy exceptional food and wine at the hands of gifted masters of the culinary arts. ‘Chef’s recommendation’ commands a gravitas guaranteed to satisfy the most discerning palate. Seasoned sommelier’s conduct the process of pairing wine and food with true finesse and style. Secure in the natural embrace of the cave-like environment, guests are encouraged to relax, ‘hit reset’ and escape the ordinary," Vintage Cave's description reads on its website.

As Time's Zeke Miller pointed out, membership at the restaurant can set you back $500,000.

Two captains in the U.S. Army relocated their wedding over the weekend to accommodate a golf game for President Obama, who is currently on vacation in Hawaii, according to Bloomberg News.

Natalie Heimel and Edward Mallue Jr. initially invited Mr. Obama to their ceremony, but received a letter Saturday saying he couldn’t come and wishing them well.

Soon after, the couple was informed they would have to move their wedding, scheduled for Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course on the Marine Corps Base Hawaii, which Mr. Obama has visited when he’s in the state.

A civil lawsuit filed on November 17, 2014, in Maui Circuit Court, alleges that two minors, placed in the custody of a foster parent by the Department of Human Services ("DHS"), were repeatedly sexually assaulted from 2009 to 2011 .

The foster parent, Florentino Rios, moved from Puerto Rico to Maui in 2008. While living in Puerto Rico, Mr. Rios married a 14-year old girl. Shortly after moving to Maui, Mr. Rios changed his name to Zack Morris, to emulate the fictional character from the children's sitcom "Saved by the Bell." Despite being unemployed and residing in a homeless shelter, Mr. Rios applied to be a foster parent, and was deemed fit to serve as one by DHS.

Yes, there were blizzard warnings in effect in Hawaii, where the two highest mountain peaks on the Big Island eventually saw a White Christmas.

Blizzard warnings were in effect on Christmas Eve for Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa above 11,500 feet for strong winds and heavy snow which led to blowing and drifting snow. By definition, winds must be at least 35 mph or greater with falling or blowing snow that reduces visibility to 1/4 mile or less for at least 3 hours to reach blizzard criteria.

We started Babes Against Biotech in response to the blatant financial ties between elected officials and the agrochemical biotech companies poisoning the Hawaiian islands. Monsanto, Dow, BASF, Syngenta and DuPont/Pioneer use Hawai’i as an open air laboratory to test genetically engineered crop seeds for export. In developing pesticide resistant Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs,) these multi-national companies create zero local food sending profits off island, while exposing our communities to obscene amounts of restricted and general use pesticides up to ten times the national average. We already have two pesticide linked birth defects doctors estimate at ten times the national average in communities near GE test fields.

Hawaii hopes it has an offer Honolulu-born President Barack Obama won't be able to turn down.

It hopes to build him a presidential library on the ocean, with a dramatic view of his hometown's famed Diamond Head volcanic crater. The state's abundant sunshine would generate solar power and support vegetable gardens on site.

Sherbow had been harassing Gabbard, a Democrat, since about February 2011, including making threats via email and telephone, prosecutors said. He was charged with two threats made in August 2013, one of them a voicemail message in which he threatened to kill her.

Mexican police arrested Sherbow in August 2013 on a U.S. warrant and transferred him to U.S. custody.

As part of the sentence, Sherbow will have three years of supervised release after his prison term. During that period he is barred from contact with Gabbard.

He also must reimburse the U.S. government $538,282 for security expenses and undergo a mental health evaluation and treatment, if necessary, the prosecutors’ statement said.

Islanders suffered under nearly three years of martial law from 1941-1944; so oppressive that it was later described by a federal judge as a “military dictatorship.” All manner of civilian liberties were replaced by oppressive military orders enforced by American soldiers.

The dark period of Hawaiian history began on December 7, 1941, with the massive surprise attack of Japanese bombers on the U.S. Naval Base Pearl Harbor. The air raid successfully sunk or grounded 18 ships and killed 2,403 Americans.

As the smoke billowed from the harbor, Lieutenant General Walter Short met with Territorial Governor Joseph Poindexter to convince him to declare martial law. Being coerced through tactics discussed below, Gov. Poindexter reluctantly ceded power to the military — temporarily, or so he thought.

I’m going to describe a few tentacles. There are more. There are always more. But these are important.

Why am I bothering? Because you’ll get some idea of the forces arrayed against the people of Hawaii, who have passed measures to limit GMOs and pesticides on Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island, only to see their votes nullified in two court judgments and temporarily blocked in the third case, Maui, pending a judge’s decision.

Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel gave birth nine weeks early while on holiday in Hawaii in November 2013. Her baby daughter had to be hospitalized.

"My water broke two days into our holiday," Huculak-Kimmel said. "I spent six weeks on bed rest and then baby Reece was delivered by emergency C-section on December 10th."

Reece had to stay in the hospital for just over two months. Huculak-Kimmel thought that her insurance would cover the almost $1 million US bill.

In the end, Blue Cross denied payment. In a letter to the family, a Blue Cross worker wrote, "We are unable to provide coverage for any medical expenses incurred for Ms. Huculak's baby" and "please note that Ms. Huculak's travel policy expired on Nov. 9, 2013."

Webmaster's Commentary:

CORRECTION: Pacific Blue Cross issued health insurance for the Canadian couple to travel outside Canada. They are not part of Canada's health system, which apparently stops at the border.

A federal judge says Maui County may not implement a new law banning the cultivation of genetically modified organisms until he can consider arguments in a lawsuit against the measure.

Webmaster's Commentary:

So the GMO planters will just go on planting and by the time the judge finally hears the lawsuit it will be too late. Maui will be fully contaminated by these dangerous plants. The entire case against the ban is that the GMO companies will suffer harm. The exact same argument could be made about companies that dump toxic and nuclear waste; banning them from dumping their "product" onto Hawaii harms them financially. Does that mean we have to let them go on doing it?

You are the Kanaka Maoli. You are a people with the right of self-determination under international law and you are the only people in Hawaii with this right of self-determination. No one else has it, only you, the Kanaka Maoli. And as a group of 135,000 people, you must go to this Convention and exercise your right of self-determination, to restore the Kingdom of Hawaii. This is your right of self-determination, go out and do it. This is what self-determination is all about. No one is going to give you your Kingdom. You must do it yourself.

Now yesterday, Bumpy Kanahele and I had a press conference in which Bumpy announced that he and his Ohana are going to the Convention and he, Bumpy, is going to make a motion to restore the Kingdom of Hawaii and to establish a provisional government of national unity for it. I want everyone to go to that Convention and vote to restore the Kingdom of Hawaii and to establish a provisional government of national unity.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Professor Francis Boyle will be our on air guest in the FIRST hour of today's radio show.

Most folks have heard that Hawaii is a state, one of the United States of America. Most people, including those who live in Hawaii, accept that statement as a fact.

But the reality is that in a world in which nations are as bound by the rule of laws as are the citizens of nations (if not more so), the truth is quite different!

The truth is that each and every step along Hawaii's path from sovereign and independent nation, to annexed territory, to state, was done in violation of laws and treaties then in effect, without regard to the wishes of the Hawaiian people. Many people, including President Grover Cleveland, opposed the annexation of Hawaii.

One of the biggest shelters in Hawaii has secured the funding to start an initiative that will vet the homeless population of Waikiki and ultimately select 120 individuals to be flown elsewhere with one-way plane tickets.

Hawaii's Institute for Human Services (IHS) officially launched its $1.3 million initiative to fight homelessness this week, and among the facets involved in the effort is a program that will put dozens of people on airplanes in order to relocate them away from the tropical island town.

"We found out that many (Waikiki homeless) are transient who made a choice to become homeless, as well as people who became homeless shortly after arriving in Hawaii," Kimo Carvalho, development and community relations manager for IHS, told Civil Beat. “We are trying to do an aggressive public relations effort, trying to water down misinformation, basically not making Hawaii be an attractive destination to come and be homeless.”

Webmaster's Commentary:

Based on my direct experience with the homeless and hungry here on Oahu, I seriously question the suggestion that anyone WANTS to be homeless!

Known for creating or helping to create 13 highly carcinogenic and toxic products including saccharin, PCBs, Polystyrene, DDT, the atom bomb, nuclear weapons, dioxin, Agent Orange, Petroleum based fertilizers, Round Up, rGBH, aspartame, GMOs, and terminator seeds. Monsanto sues everyone to keep dealing their dirty products, but the most recent suit, involving Dustin Barca, a surfer-turned mixed martial arts fighter in Hawaii is of special note. He is taking it personally that Monsanto poisons him, and bringing activism to a new level. - See more at: http://naturalsociety.com/gmo-crops-destroying-farmland-monsanto/#stha...

Looks like I called it correctly on Wednesday's radio show. The predicted storm track is continuing to shift south. (Damn, I'm good!)

For our readers on Oahu I finally found a store that deals with survival/prepper supplies. We just got back from there and it has all the goodies the modern urban paranoid might need. It's called "Be Ready Hawaii"in Waipahu. As far as I can tell this is the only such store on the island.

During the project's groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, which was webcast on Thirty Meter Telescope's official website, yelling could be heard in the background of the blessing.

Stephanie Nagata, director of the Office of Mauna Kea Management, told The Associated Press that several dozen protesters even blocked the roads to the telescope, prevented a caravan of vehicles from taking visitors, which included dignitaries from around the world, to the event. But the protest group denied they had blocked any traffic, pointing instead to the police.

"They laid down the road right there," said Kealoha Pisciotta, who was with the group Mauna Kea Anaina Hou. "That's what stopped the caravan." Pisciotta also said her group didn't intend to stop the blessing and later apologized for interrupting it. "We said aloha to each other and we hugged."

The Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) has determined that the individual in isolation at a Honolulu hospital who was reported to the department as a possible Ebola case yesterday does not meet the criteria for testing. The individual is no longer under evaluation for possible Ebola infection.

“The hospital acted in the best interests of the community, with an abundance of caution,” said Health Director Dr. Linda Rosen. “We commend the facility for being prepared and remaining vigilant regarding the risk of Ebola. After investigation by the health department, it was determined that the individual did not meet the clinical or travel exposure criteria for an Ebola infection.”

Webmaster's Commentary:

So ... basically they are saying they are not going to bother testing him. I would frankly feel better if they had gone ahead with the test and had it come back negative.

Frankly, this feels like pure political bovine excrement to protect Hawaii's tourism industry. The first reports on this patient indicated that his doctors felt he met the criteria, including travel.

And, claiming that he has not traveled to Ebola infected areas assumes one knows all the places where Ebola is right now, which is impossible. Prior to the first of this week, one would not have seen Dallas or Brussels on the list of locations where Ebola infection is possible.

Now it is being reported that Thomas Duncan lied to authorities in Liberia to board the aircraft, denying he had come in contact with an Ebola patient. The Hawaii State Department of Health is betting the lives of our citizens that the patient at Queen's has been fully truthful.

Even with a public address announcer describing in detail each upcoming formation and maneuver, many among the sun-baked crowd at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam couldn't help but gasp, flinch, even duck as a sextet of powerful F/A-18 Hornet supersonic combat jets aligned themselves in tight diamond formation, screamed past one another upside down, and executed other stunning feats of precision flying.

It is easy to find the courage necessary to support a moral position if that position benefits oneself. True moral courage, however, is proven when one chooses to support that which is morally and ethically right even when such a position is to one's one detriment.

The people of the United States find themselves in such a position right now, forced to choose between a moral and ethical position that carries with it the potential for "inconvenience", or supporting the status quo and having to admit to themselves that they are not the champions of justice they imagine themselves to be. By the end of this article, you will know for yourself which one you are.

Most folks have heard that Hawaii is a state, one of the United States of America. Most people, including those who live in Hawaii, accept that statement as a fact.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Maybe it is time to add Hawaii to the list of regions seeking independence.

After a long delay in the postal system, these photos finally arrived, sent in by a reader. These are photos taken by a US Army soldier stations here in Hawaii at the close of WW1. His name is thought to be Edward Braza (or possibly Edward's father, first name unknown). He appears in many of the photos. From the multiple sizes of negatives and the attempts at hand tinting some photos, it is clear that Mr. Braza was a serious amateur photographer and captured many scenes of Hawaii as it was nearly 100 years ago. I am posting scans of the images here for Hawaii and history fans, and plan to find a suitable institution to donate the original prints to for preservation.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Several people have helped out identifying landmarks in the photos. The captions have been updated.

"The nuclear power Israel is endangering the already fragile world peace," Grass wrote in his poem titled:

"What must be said"

The 84-year-old Grass said he had been prompted to put pen to paper by Berlin's recent decision to sell Israel a submarine able to "send all-destroying warheads where the existence of a single nuclear bomb is unproven."

"The nuclear power Israel is endangering the already fragile world peace," he wrote. His poem specifically criticized Israel's "claim to the right of a first strike" against Iran.